The Game's Afoot

There was a time in video game history when purchasing the game meant just that: you paid some amount of money and received in return a complete video game with all of its content on your new CD. As any avid gamer knows, now is not that time. For large titles, it is still common to pay a set sum of money (these days, mostly $60) and receive a game in return. Unfortunately, while what you receive is generally a game, it is becoming rarer and rarer to receive a complete game as a result of this transaction. It is almost impossible to find a game made by a major development studio without some kind of downloadable content, expansion, or cosmetic addition available for purchase. I would like to make it clear that I don't believe that such practices are inherently bad. For example, my favorite childhood game, Rise of Nations, had an expansion available that added new nations and campaigns to the game. Nonetheless, it remained a complete and fun game without any additional...

Ever since we were very young, my brother and I have been inseparable. Our mutual introversion meant that we spent most of our childhoods playing with each other and we have become and remained close as a result. Even after we grew out of the imaginary games of our youth, we continued to play video games with each other frequently, up to and including the present day. Unfortunately, the demands of college means that I can no longer play games with the frequency that I once did. As such, it is not easy for me to learn new games at the same rate as my brother, who is only a freshman in high school. Therefore any game that we play together must be either a game I learned before college or one that is not difficult to learn. Image Credits That is the reason that I began playing the game Blackwake with my brother. Among other positive qualities, it is an easy game to learn (almost anyone can learn it in less than a day, and ten minutes might suffice for an experienced gamer), a fac...